Letters

12/06/2012

We are in the minority, Moomjean

I was elated to read your “Right Persuasion” (The road to Greece, 11/15) article allowed in the Reporter!! At first, I thought it might be a satirical article as I have not seen this opinion in the Reporter before. But I am right there with you! I agree with everything you wrote and have also vowed to move away as well. This is getting ridiculous and very sad the way this country has been “duped”… again.

Thank you for having the courage to write your article. We seem to be quite the minority, aren’t we? As my boyfriend said, “There are some people that take the stairs and some that take the elevator.” Why would they give up that easy ride to work harder?

I just had to write and voice my support of a very well-written and true article.

Thank you!!

Robin DeRuedaVentura

Fearing the worst

First, I tip my hat to you, sir. Secondly, I agree 100 percent with every word written in “The road to Greece.” (Right Persuasion, 11/15) What an exceptional article! It’s a good feeling to know I’m not the only one who feels there are more takers than makers.

As a former Marine, I have seen poverty and plight throughout the world, and I fear my grandkids could possibly experience the same in this once-prosperous land we live in.

Keep up the great work, and as long as you continue to live in the U.S., keep fighting the good fight.

Richard OropezaFillmore

Sore losers

So now Paul Moomjean thinks that “America is dead,” eh? (“The road to Greece,” Right Persuasion, 11/15)

Well, isn’t it just too bad that he and the same band of heartless morons who were telling us, “You lost, get over it” 12 years ago can’t seem to accept their own loss? Even worse, they can’t resist blaming the electorate at large for what amounts to their own (Republicans’, that is) sheer offensiveness.

Moomjean and all who think as he does have all the emotional maturity of a spoiled 14-year-old.

And I find it ironic that this segment of the country that so loudly trumpets its patriotism is only patriotic until they don’t get their own way. Then, they literally hate America and Americans.

Unfortunately, his kind doesn’t realize that the America whose passing they mourn has never existed, in this or any other reality.

Tom BechamVentura

I’ll make you a bet, VCReporter

RE: The road to Greece (Paul Moomjean, 11/15)

While the president and Congress deal with the looming fiscal cliff, Paul Moomjean is perched precariously on the edge of his own histrionic psychological cliff.

Moomjeam is so sure that Obama’s re-election is pushing America on the fast road to Hades that he guarantees that the following will happen by 2016: Americans will “riot in the streets over a handout that is not being disbursed properly”; America will “abandon Israel, our most important ally”; and unemployment will “never drop below 7 percent, but will instead rise toward 10 percent.”

Hmmm. If Israel is America’s “most important ally,” where does that leave Canada and Great Britain?

But back to Moomjean’s crystal ball. He has made predictions of fact, which will either happen or not happen. It will be easy, four years from now, to verify Moomjean’s accuracy. So let’s make a deal.

If Moomjean’s unequivocal predictions come true, I will donate $500 to the VCReporter’s favorite charity. If he is wrong, the Reporter promises never again to print the hysterical ramblings that spew from the Emperor of Moomjeanland. What say you, VC Reporter?

See you in 2016!

Karl LawsonCamarillo

One-way ticket to Norway

Dear Mr. Moomjean,I’d be more than happy to purchase that one-way ticket to Norway for you. (“The road to Greece,” Paul Moomjean, 11/15) And let me sweeten the deal even more with a copy of VC Reporters’ own advice columnist Amy Alkon’s book I See Rude People for your inflight entertainment.

I’m ready to move at a moment’s notice so please keep me posted.

Luanna Walling-WhartonSilver Strand Beach

You have lost American values

I am a lifelong liberal Democrat. I’m writing to you to urge you not to miss a golden opportunity that has fallen in your lap. Mr. Right Persuasion has given us all notice that he is packing his toys and moving to Norway. (“The road to Greece,” Paul Moomjean, 11/15) As quickly as you can, find a replacement for him and his column. In case you haven’t noticed, his columns frequently have no substance, and like his latest one, consist mostly of a regurgitation of undigested right-wing slogans and talk-radio propaganda.

If I had not read many of his previous writings, I might have thought his latest piece was satire. What rational person would really compare the United States economy and military might with Greece? Was he a toddler when two terms of Bush brought us two massive unpaid-for tax cuts for the rich, two ill-conceived, unpaid-for wars and “nation-building” projects? Surely he was of age to read newspapers when Bush employed a stimulus and bailouts to save Wall Street and the banking interests.

He may not be well-read, but in the age of Google searches there is no excuse to be uninformed or, worse, misinformed. If he simply typed in “Heritage Foundation” and “health care,” he could learn that universal health care was a conservative idea to deal with the expense of using the emergency room as the last tier of the American health paradigm. Entitlements? Is this what he calls taking care of the elderly, the disabled, veterans, the unemployed? There’s no doubt that deficits and the debt have to be the subject of a serious discussion, but why aren’t the Bush tax cuts, farm and oil subsidies, and tax loopholes that favor the rich part of the conversation? Does any serious person really believe that tax cuts for the rich create jobs? No, a healthy middle class creates jobs, the very people that were left behind by Republican economics. Abandoning Israel? Really? Abandon our only reliable ally in the Middle-East? Israel has been our military proxy in that region probably Mr. Persuasion’s whole life, and he thinks we will abandon it? And as for no longer relying on the “principles” of the Constitution, it’s a governing document. Did he mean the Declaration of Independence? I have no idea what part of the Constitution we’ve abandoned since the repeal of prohibition. Maybe this is the confusion that results from taking your political cues from Ann Coulter. And maybe we do worry about global warming more than morality and freedom. We have the Constitution’s First Amendment to protect us from sharia law and any morality that Mr. Persuasion would like to legislate, but we have nothing to protect us from extinction if we don’t take global warming seriously.

As for his choice of Norway as future residence, it will be no loss. You, Mr. Persuasion, are the one who has lost his American values. Listen to your fellow Republicans who are repudiating your hateful view of the American electorate. They’re moving away from you and your cartoonish view of conservatism. And I am very pleased that they are because we need a loyal opposition to keep the balance that our democracy needs to function effectively. I wish Mr. Persuasion well among all the “better-looking people.” VCReporter: hurry on that replacement before he finds out that Norway has a 10 percent minority population, feminists and gays.

John M. MartinezVentura

Angels among us

When the economy is hurting, so are the nonprofit organizations as they count on donations. Within these organizations are kind, loving and giving people who I think of as Angels.

A few days ago, I stopped at my local Vons Market to pick up a few items. Outside at a table were Boy Scouts collecting donations for the Battered Women organization. I have donated for years to this organization because women who are battered have nothing. Often, they have to leave their houses quickly and there is no time to pack anything. They have to start over with nothing. One day they are living a middle-class life, and the next day they become the truly needy.

There was this nice woman with her son who was one of those Boy Scouts helping. We chatted for a while about the organization. I then told her about a needy family who didn’t have enough money to buy food for Thanksgiving or Christmas presents for their son. The father had lost his second job and cannot find another. The mother is disabled and gets very little from Social Security.

As I was shopping, I noticed the tables and signs in Vons as it was also collecting food for the needy. I smiled inside, knowing there were people willing to help. I also remembered my grandfather and aunt telling me about the Great Depression when people starved to death. The only way to survive the Great Depression was people helping people.

When I came out of the market, this nice lady from the Battered Women organization asked to walk me to the car. She then told me to open up the trunk and proceeded to put two big bags of food for Thanksgiving inside. She asked that I only tell this family that it was from me. I told her that I wanted to tell them who gave it so they would know there are still kind and giving people in the world. She also handed me a $20 gift card for Vons, which I think she paid for out of her own pocket.

As we hugged and tried not to cry, she asked me about Christmas presents for this family. This time it was hard for me to hold back the tears. I told her that I believe God sends Angels to help us, and that she is one of those Angels. As I drove off, I felt so blessed and grateful.

I shared this story with a close girlfriend who also decided to be an Angel and help with Christmas presents for this family. She also suggested I share this story so that others can become Angels and help the needy.